Brown scored the first of Harlequins' three tries on the night and reacted in the best possible manner to being released by England for club duty. Stuart Lancaster opted to keep Saracens fullback Alex Goode in camp ahead of their match with Fiji on Saturday which suggested that he is the favourite to start at the back of the field in the first of their autumn Tests.

With Ben Foden injured, it seemed to be a straight shoot-out between Brown and Goode for the No.15 berth and O'Shea, who also singled out Nick Easter for praise, believes that his fullback has been the best player in the position over the past two seasons.

"Nick is an outstanding leader and Brown reacted phenomenally in the way he played tonight, O'Shea said in the aftermath of his team's win over Gloucester. "His involvement in the game was huge.

"He's absolutely outstanding in the fundamentals of fullback play, he scores tries, he takes responsibility. I hope he gets the opportunity to play at home in a Test match from the start over these next few weeks.

"I'm not saying anything against Ben Foden, who is a great player - injured - and Alex Goode, in outstanding form, but Mike Brown for two years has been absolutely the best fullback in the country."